Refrigeration



May 14,1946. 5, 3, ONS 2,400,192

REFRIGERATION Filed Aug. 9, 1943 Cyril's C 60022.9

Patented May 14, 1946 REFRIGERATION I Curtis Coons, NiltliCanton, Ohio, assignor td I The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application August 9, 1943, Serial No. 497,889

2 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigeration and more particularly to an absorption refrigerating apparatus of the type using a pressure equalizing medium and having power means for circulating the mediums within the apparatus.

The invention of this application is an improvement over the patent to Coons 2,317,520 granted April 27, 1943.

In a modern refrigerating apparatus of the type referred to in which a power unit is utilized for circulating the mediums, it is necessary that the moving parts of the power unit be sealed within the walls of the apparatus.v Some means must therefore be provided for lubricating the power unit in such amanner that it is not necessary to service the machine during its lifetime.

In absorption refrigerating apparatuses using ammonia as the refrigerant, the internal pressures are very high and as a consequence the walls of the apparatus must be made of high strength steel, usually welded together in an integral structure. From this it can be seen that to service the power units of such machines, it would be necessary to return the entire unit to the factory.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an absorption refrigerating apparatus, using ammonia as the refrigerant, having moving parts of "the power unit sealed within the integral walls of the apparatus, in which it is unnecessary to service the power unit for long periods of time.

Ammonia readily soluble in water, can be readily separated therefrom by the application of heat and has a high heat of vaporization. It is therefore an excellent substance for use as the refrigerant in arr-absorption refrigerating machine. it has, however, the disadvantage that it attacks materials of which such machines are usually made.

In the past the rotor of the medium circulator for the three-fluid absorption refrigerating apparatus using ammonia as the refrigerant has been made of stainless steel and the conductor bars and end rings of aluminum in order that the rotor would not be corroded b the ammonia. However, stainless steel is very expensive, much more difilcult to fabricate than soft magnetic steel and does not have as good magnetic properties as soft magnetic steel and aluminum is not as good a conductor as copper, but both soft magnetic steel and copper arereadily attacked by the ammonia.

According to the present invention the motor rotor is made of soft magnetic iron and the conductor bars and end rings of copper and both the iron and copper are coated by spraying them with molten stainless steel. It has been found that the sprayed stainless steel is not penetrated by the ammonia and efliciently protects the iron and copper from corrosion.

trolytic action between the stainless steel coating and the copper "of the conductorbars and "end rings, the rotor may be, according to another phase of this invention, coated with a hard stainless steel.

' It is another object of'this invention to lubricate the power unit of an absorption refrigerating machine with a liquid medium normally contained within the machine and collect this liquid medium from some portion of the machine in which the liquid medium is condensed from a vaporous state.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a diagrammatic representation of an absorption refrigerating apparatus embodyin the principles of this invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the power unit according to this invention, depicting how the rotor of the power unit is submerged in the liquid medium; and v Figure 3 is a modified form of a rotor for the motor, showing a lacquer coating between the sprayed stainless steel coating and the copper of the conductor bars and end rings.

Referring to Figure. l of the drawing there is disclosed a three-fluid absorption refrigerating system comprising a seller B, an analyzer D, an air cooled rectifier R, a tubular air cooled condenser C, an evaporator E, a gas heat exchanger a tubular air cooled absorber A, a solution reslating fan F which is driven by an electric motor M.

The above-described elements are interconnected by various conduits to form a plurality of gas and liquid circuits constituting a complete refrigerating system to which reference will be made in more detail hereinafter. I

The refrigerating system will be charged with a suitable refrigerant such as ammonia, a suitable absorbent such as water, and a suitable pressure equalizing mediiun such as hydrogen or nitrogen.

The application of heat to the boiler B liberates refrigerant vapor from the strong solution contained therein. The vapor so liberated passes In order to prevent the possibility of an eleclacquer prior to being sprayed with the molten ervoir S, a liquid heat exchanger L and a circupassing through the analyzer is condensed and returned to the analyzer through the conduit ii.

The refrigerant vapor is liquefied in the condenser by heat exchange relation with atmospheric air and is discharged from the bottom portion thereof through conduit l5 into a downwardly extending conduit IS. The bottom portion of the conduit l6 connects to the bottom portion of an upwardly extending conduit ll through a U-bend l8. Conduit I8 is appreciably longer than the conduit IT for a purpose to be described later. The conduit 11 opens at its upper end into a con duit which discharges into the evaporator E in a manner to be described more fully hereinafter.

The weak solution formed in the boiler by the generation or refrigerant vapor therefrom is conveyed from the boiler through a conduit iii, the outer pass of liquid heat exchanger L, through a pro-cooler 22 and a conduit 23 into the solution reservoir 8. The weak solution is conveyed from the solution reservoir 8 through a U-shaped conduit 24 opening into an upwardly extending tube 25, of small diameter, and forming a as liit pump which discharges into the top of the absorber A. It is apparent that the top of the absorber is materially above the solution level normally prevailing in the boiler-anfllyaenreservoir system whereby some means must be provided to elevate the absorption solution to the top of the absorber A. For this purpose a small bleed conduit 21 is connected to the discharge conduit 28 of the circulating fan F and leads to the junction of the conduits 2i and which is below the solution level normally prevailing in the reservoir whereby the weak solution is elevated to the top of the absorber A by gas lift action.

In the absorber A the weak solution flows down-- wardly by gravity in counterfiow to the rich pressure equalizing medium refrigerant vapor mixture, flowing upwardly therethrough. The refrigerant vapor content of the mixture is absorbed in the absorption solution and the heat of absorption is rejected to the surrounding air by air cooling fins which are mounted on the exterior walls of the absorber vessel A. Strong solution formed in the absorber A discharges into conduit 32 which opens into the inner pass 01 the liquid heat exchanger L. From the inner pass of the liquid heat exchanger L the strong solution is conveyed to the upper portion of the analyzer D by conduit 33 whereby as previously described it flows downwardly through the analyzer in coonterflow to the rising vapor generated in the boiler.

The weak pressure equalizing medium refrigerant vapor mixture present in the absorber A is taken from the upper portion thereof through the conduit 35 into the suction side of the circulating fan F in which it is placed under pressure and discharged from the conduit 28 into the outer pass of the gas heat exchanger G and therefrom through a downwardly extending conduit 36 into the bottom of the evaporator E,

The conduit 20 opens into the bottom portion of the conduit 36 whereby the liquid refrigerant supplied to the evaporator enters simultaneously with the pressure equalizing medium which is placed under pressure by the circulating'fan F. The diameter 01 the conduit of the evaporator is relatively small whereby the pressure equalizing medium flows through it at a relatively high velocity. The rapidly flowing pressure equalizing medium sweeps or drags the liquid refrigerant with it through the evaporator into the box cooling conduit in as the refrigerant is evaporated by diffusion into the pressure equalizing medium to produce refrigeration. In the conduit 40 the velocity of the inert gas stream is relatively low by reason of the large diameter of that conduit and the liquid refrigerant flows thei'cthrough by gravity. Any liquid refrigerant not evaporated in the evaporator will flow through the conduit 45,

the inner pass of the gas heat exchanger i and pass by conduit to the bottom of the absorber.

The rich pressure equalizing medium refrigerant vapor mixture formed in the evaporator conducted therefrom into the inner pass of the gas heat exchanger G through a conduit 45. The opposite end of the gas heat exchanger G communicates with the bottom portion of the ab i solution discharge conduit the discharge conduit l5 oi" the condenser is vent-.

ed through a vent conduit d9 into the inner pass of gas heat exchanger G. The solution reservoir is vented through a conduit 5i? into the conduit 35 of the circulating fan culating ifan. F places pressure equalediulrn discharged therefrom under small in score, in the neighborhood of a pressure 01' a few inches of water, over that prevailing in the suction side of the Ian F. In order to prevent this p1 which also prevails in the conduit 36 from being carried back through the condenser discharge conduit, the condenser and conduit 15 to the analyzer, the conduit 16 is made appreciably longer than the conduit il whereby a, pressure balancing column of liquid is formed in the conduit it which extends above the point of connection between the conduits ii and .20 a distance sufficient to overcome the pressure produced by the circulating fan in the conduit 36.

Leading from the fan discharge conduit 28 adjacent the bottom of the outer pass of the gas heat exchanger G is a conduit 65 which opens into the interior of the bottom plate El of the Ian casing as clearly shown in Figure 2. The conduit Eli a U-bend portion 88 for a purpose which will be described later. The conduit 28 has a downwardly extending bulge 69 where the conduit 65 is attached thereto.

A conduit ll] leads from the bottom plate El 01 the fan casing to the strong solution return conduit 32.

Referring to Figure 2 the motor fan unit omprises a casing for the fan and a shell 12 sep rating the motor rotor 13 from the motor field structure 82. The portion of the shell 12 between the rotor and the field structure is made very thin to reduce the eflective air gap between the rotor and stator and is supported against internal pressure by the field structure 82 being pressed tightly thereover. The rotor 13 is rigidly connected to the Ian F by shaft I4 which is rotatably supported on the interior of the casing by bearing assemblies 15 and 1.6.

The lower bearing assembly 15 includes a two part thrust bearing 11 of very hard material such as tungsten carbide and a large clearance Babbitt radial bearing 18. The top bearing assembly also includes a large clearance Babbitt radial bearlng IS. The shaft 74 is preferably made of stainless steel.

The fan casing is divided into a suction chamber and a high pressure chamber by plate 80 having an aperture 8| leading to the suction side of the fan F.

The rotor 13 is of the squirrel cage type and has a core ll made of laminations of soft magnetic iron and conductor bars and end rings 85 are made of copper. In order to protect the soft iron core 84 and the copper conductor bars and end rings 85 from corrosion by the ammonia a coating 88 of stainless steel is sprayed over the entire surface of the rotor 13. 7

During operation all of the refrigerant vapor is not removed from the inert gas in the absorber A so that the gaseous medium leaving the absorber is a lean mixture of refrigerant vapor and inert medium which leaves the absorber in a comparatively warm state. When this warm mixture comes into heat exchange relationship with. cold inert medium refrigerant vapor mixture returning to the absorber A from the evaporator E it becomes cold and a small amount will be condensed out and flow to the bottom of the outer pass of the gas heat exchanger G, into the pocket is in the tube 28. It will then flow through the tube Stinto the interior of the motor fan casing and will eventually completely sub-- merge the rotor 13 to the level shown in Figure 2. Any excess liquid will drain through the conduit it back to thesolution circuit.

The pressure in the conduit 28 being that of the high pressure side of the fan and the pressure within the shell being somewhat lower pressure the liquid level in the right hand leg of the U-member 88 will be lower than the level within the motor tan casing by an amount suiiicient to balance this diilference in pressure.

By submerging the rotor 13 in a liquid medium the rotor centers itself as it reaches its operating speed. This is due to the fact that if the rotor is oft-center at the beginning of its operation the drawn between the rotor 13 and the shell 12 at a point where the rotor is closest to the shelland move it away from the shell at that point. This action will continue until the rotor is completely centralized. It is to be noted that the space between the rotor and the shell when the rotor is centered is very small and may be only a few thousandths of an inch.

The fact that the action of the lubricant automatically centers the rotor renders it possible to make the radial Babbitt bearings II and I9 with a much larger clearance between the bearingnirfaces and that ol the shaft 14 than would otherwise be possible. Thus the bearing surfaces liquid will tend to rotate with the rotor and be are only in contact when the rotor is starting and the wear thereon will be negligible. The buoyant eflect of the liquid medium will also lighten the load on the thrust bearing 11 and thereby reduce the wear thereon. Since the radial bearings are out of contact with the shaft during operation a much quieter motor will result.

It has been found that the sprayed stainless steel coating on the exterior of the rotor 13 will not be penetrated by the ammonia and will adequately protect the soft iron of the core 84 and the copper of the conductor bars and end rings 85 from corrosion. However, the ammonia may act as an electrolyte and in order to prevent an electrolytic action between the stainless steel coating 86 and the copper of the conductor bars and end rings 85, a coating 81 of hard lacquer may be provided between the copper conductor bars and end rings 85 and the stainless steel coating '88 as shown in Figure 3.

From the foregoing it can be seen that this invention provides a medium circulator for a three-fluid absorption refrigerating machine in which the rotor is submerged in a liquid normally contained within the apparatus and is protected from the corrosive atmosphere of ammonia .by the sprayed stainless steel coating 88 which will render the apparatus operable over long periods of time without attention being paid to the medium circulator.

While I have shown but two embodiments of this invention it is to be understood that those embodiments are to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. I do not wish to be limited to the specific structure shown and described but to include all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim: o

i. In a three-fluid absorption refrigerating apparatus, a medium circulator for circulating fluids in said apparatus, a vertically extending casing hermetically sealed to the apparatus walls, a

squirrel cage motor rotor and ian mounted in said casing for rotation on a vertical axis and means for leading liquid condensate into said casing, said casing being so constructed and arranged that the motor is submerged in the liquid condensate, said rotor comprising a core or soft iron'laminations, copper conductor bars and end rings, a coating of lacquer covering said core. conductor bars and end rings and a thin coating of stainless steel covering said lacquer coating.

2. A hermetically sealed medium clrculator for a three-fluid absorption refrigerating apparatus comprising, a vertically extending hermetically sealed casing, said casing being so positioned as to collect liquid ammonia which condenses in the apparatu and a squirrel cage motor rotor and fan in said casing mounted for rotation on a vertical axis so that said rotor is submerged in condensed liquid ammonia, said rotor be constructed ofiron laminations with copper conductor bars and end rings and having a sprayed stainless steel coating to protect the iron and copper against corrosion by the-ammonia and being separated from the iron and copper by a coating of hard lacquer.

4 CUR'I'IB C. COONS. 

